STRANDED!

I was driving home from Orangeville to Shelburne this evening when the weather got the better of me. Whiteouts. 50 kmph winds. Falling snow. Falling? Falling is relative. I actually saw no falling snow. Horizontal, gravity defying snow whipping in every direction? That's a better description.

I prayed to God to give me a sign. God's usually good with things like that. I believe it was HE who declared:

"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust?" Matthew 7:7-9

So I prayed and asked for a sign, with none of that funny buisness, like "I'll pray every day if you spare my life, Lord.". And at that very moment, the wind doubled, the snow tripled, and I had some asshole in a hemi riding my behind. "Am I on God's shit list or something" I pondered, and I didn't really think of sawdust at all but this translation makes me laugh. Who would try and pass off sawdust as bread?

Then, suddenly, as I'm just about to start crying, the weather clears for one moment and I see the sign that I asked for. "Sideroad 22"

That's where Michael Sumner lives, at the unnamed retreat facility. I made an emergency right turn that would have made a stunt double blush and weaved through farmer's fields and a little ravine to seek some shelter in the storm. Now I'm sitting in his warm office while he's working. It's not fair, really.

He has Marmite on his desk. Have you ever tried this stuff before? It's a yeast extract that you spread in a thin layer onto buttered, warm toast. So British. And also very good for you. I got into it when I was living in South Africa. I wish I had toast right now.